Monkeys and Motorcycles

I went to Kisumu.

There were monkeys.

They have bright blue scrota.

My dogs almost ate a lizard.

It fought back.

Then I saved it.

I bought a motorcycle.

I'm doing a deep clean/tune of my bike.

The rear brake pads are almost worn out after two months.

I need to get some degreaser and clean all the components. The rear derailleur wasn't springing back to take up the slack when I was trying to shift onto smaller cassette cogs.

The spokes are fine, so I don't really need to take this guy off, but it might be nice to have the nut for this just in case.

I gave George another bath.

Clouds here are awesome.

Regarding the motorcyle, it's a 5-speed Chinese brand (Igo) 125 cc with the engine design ripped off of Honda. I was a little worried about 125 or 150 being too big since I'd only ever riden a 100 (and only once). Then a friend reminded me that 125cc is for scooters in the US, and real bikes are 700-1100cc. So my bike is wimpy, which is great since I'm a total beginner. I got up to 100km/hr once on the way home, given traffic and road conditions I was mostly going 60-70 km/hr. I made the ride from Kisumu to Busia in about 2 hours, which is about the same time it takes in a private car--they can obviously drive faster on clear sections, but there are lot of potholes (craters, really) and speedbumps that are less of an obstacle for motorbikes.

The bike cost $700, and another $50 for a year's insurance. I don't expect it to last long, but I'm pretty disappointed that there's already an electrical problem. The horn quit working 1/4 mile from the house. There's a loose wire that I didn't notice; I should be able to figure that out myself or get it fixed in town pretty easily though. Other than that the ride was a lot of fun. Given my inexperience I was concerned about getting passed too closely by matatus or facing oncoming vehicles trying to pass each other, but it wasn't that bad. I'm headed to the US in a week, so I might not be able to go for a long ride for another month.